The Abbott solution for cat theft?

BLS at https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-labor-force-participation-rate.htm says they balance out to "no change." All three might be true, e.g. I lost a job and I took another one.

My sense significant qualitative and quantitative differences.

If I recall correctly, and I don't have any sources, any business in China is technically owned by the CCP. A business might operate like it's free and private while it's small, but once it gets big enough, the state really does take it over. In the USA, the businesses are technically owned by the owners. The state might meddle using regulations or national security letters or things like that, but for the present the businesses are still owned and operated by their owners. If somebody has a source confirming or denying this I would appreciate it.

As for the totalitarianism, I think China is only worsted by North Korea, right? This difference with the USA is more about scope. The USA tracks, surveils, imprisons, assassinates, etc., but perhaps the latter two in a less broad manner. It's hard to tell because the USA officially denies doing a lot of that stuff. My sense is that everybody in China knows they operate under such a regime whereas in the USA the state denies it and people don't want to believe it happens here too.

If you look at the measures recommended in the Communist Manifesto's second chapter, it has been argued that most or all of them are present in the USA. So you're right that it's difficult to say "communist" applies to China but not the USA. We have to be more specific.

"It depends." - Academic

Indeed. I don't have a Glock in .45 and don't remember any experience with them in .45 but I've heard nothing bad about them. I have heard bad things about 1911s from James Yeager and have seen a couple of them malfunction in easy conditions. I have not seen any Glocks or XDs malfunction in easy conditions. Not that I have seen a lot of either, I'm talking a handful.

Ruger supports gun control.

Cost: filling a G17 mag is a little cheaper than filling a G21 (currently).

More rounds: a G17 mag has 17, a G21 has 13.

I like to pick a round and then use it across the board. Total cost of ownership is mostly ammo not the firearms. So if you are already in a bunch of 9mm and have little-to-no .45, it probably makes sense to stick with 9mm. If you are already in a bunch of .45 and have little-to-no 9mm, it probably makes sense to stick with .45. Along these lines you might want to get rid of the .380 because it's similar to 9mm but is almost as expensive as .45.

Pistols and/or shotguns are probably fine for home defense. I don't know how one can avoid hearing loss in a home defense situation.

"Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." - Peter

They probably had to show up. Physical presence is a high bar but sometimes it happens.

This is the crux.

Simpler is certainly better. In the case of "me and my one machine" it can naturally be simple. A lot of complexity might be self-inflicted but some of it comes from the natural complexity of "my team and our machines serve many people." If it's "me and my one machine" I might use version control because it's useful to just me, but there isn't strictly a need for it and it would be simpler without it. Likewise I might or might not have a dedicated test machine or an automated build if it's just "me and my one machine." But those latter things start to make more sense once other people are involved.

Command and Control (2016)

Wormwood (2017)

Coup 53 (2019)

I agree in general. But to play devil's advocate: people like the convenience of payment tools such as Venmo and do not like the inconveniences of government tools such as 1099-K. The more people who have assets frozen by governments the more people will be interested in unfreezable assets. Do these three ideas combine to swing the norm to private, decentralized payments? Perhaps it depends on the frequency and scope of seizures by governments.

For every buyer there must be a seller.

"Ergo abolendo rumori Nero subdidit reos et quaesitissimis poenis adfecit quos per flagitia invisos vulgus Christianos appellabat. auctor nominis eius Christus Tiberio imperitante per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio adfectus erat; repressaque in praesens exitiabilis superstitio rursum erumpebat, non modo per Iudaeam, originem eius mali, sed per urbem etiam quo cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluuunt celebranturque. igitur primum correpti qui fatebantur deinde indicio eorum multitudo ingens haud proinde in crimine incendii quam odio humani generis convicti sunt. et pereuntibus addita ludibria, ut ferarum tergis contecti laniatu canum interirent, aut crucibus adfixi aut flammandi, atque ubi defecisset dies in usum nocturni luminis urerentur. hortos suos ei spectaculo Nero obtulerat et circense ludicrum edebat, habitu aurigae permixtus plebi vel curriculo insistens. unde quamquam adversus sontes et novissima exempla meritos miseratio oriebatur, tamquam non utilitate publica sed in saevitiam unius absumerentur." - Tacitus

Translated to English: "Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed." - Tacitus

"He who controls the spice..."

Do we only believe the ancients because we have current witnesses and photographs?

"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." - Paul

Nice. It does use those in-band comments. But is there a free/libre locally-running alternative implementation?

Ironically hosted on GitHub.

And I guess I missed the memo that the .NET SDK and runtime are now proper Free Software. TIL https://github.com/dotnet/sdk/blob/main/LICENSE.TXT and https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/blob/main/LICENSE.TXT

So I guess it's OK? Kind of?